Professional matters of Frontier Constabulary were discussed during the meeting.

The Minister lauded the sacrifices rendered by civil armed forces for ensuring security of the country.

He stressed the need for capacity building of the force by providing them modern weaponry, equipment, and training.

CPEC

Deputy Chief of Mission at Chinese Embassy in Pakistan Zhao Lijian says China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project is one of the best performing projects of his country's Belt and Road Initiative.

He was speaking at a conference on 'Belt and Road Initiative and CPEC' in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The Chinese diplomat said the multi-billion dollar CPEC project, which is being jointly undertaken by Pakistan and China, prioritizes development of Gwadar, energy projects, transport infrastructure and industrial cooperation.

He said the second 660-MW unit of Sahiwal coal-fired power plant has been completed and is ready to be inaugurated.

With the commission of second unit, the plant will give an output of 1320 MW.

The Chinese diplomat said Port Qasim coal-fired power plant is also expected to be completed this year, whereas three wind farms in Sindh are also nearing completion.

SC-HUSSAIN

Supreme Court has rejected the plea of Prime Minister's son Hussain Nawaz for stopping JIT probing Panama Papers case from video-recording of the proceedings.

In his petition, Hussain Nawaz had also prayed the court to form a commission to investigate the leak of his photo, while he was sitting in the investigation room.

In its detailed judgment announced on Tuesday, the three-member bench headed by Justice Ijaz Afzal said video recordings are only used to prepare transcript of the statements.

However, the verdict said that until the law is amended, the video recordings will not be shown in the court-room. It also said that video recordings cannot be presented as evidence before the court.

TALAL:

PML-N leader Talal Chaudhry says his party respects the state institutions.

Talking to newsmen in Islamabad on Tuesday, he however said we will use our legal right regarding the Panama Papers case after consultations with legal experts.

Talal Chaudhry said PML-N has always accepted court decisions. He said those, who are attempting to malign us without any reason, will not succeed in their nefarious design.

BALIGH

Minister of State for Education Baligh-ur Rehman says public-private partnership is vital to cater to the educational needs of children.

Addressing closing ceremony of a training course organized by a non-governmental organization in Islamabad, he said dropout rate in schools has considerably decreased from twenty-six million to twenty-two million during the last three years.

IRFAN:

Prime Minister's Advisor on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui says basic information about national heroes is being compiled to educate the young generation about the contributions of the great personalities.

Talking to Asian Civilization Society President Zulfiqar Ali Qureshi in Islamabad on Tuesday, he said historical facts about the ancient civilizations should be taught to the youth so that they are well aware of the history and national heroes.

ECP

Election Commission of Pakistan will meet in Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss delimitation of constituencies.

Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Raza Khan will chair the meeting.

Chief Census Commissioner Asif Bajwa will brief the meeting about the census data required by the Election Commission for delimitation of constituencies.

BISP

Benazir Income Support Programme Chairperson Marvi Memon says the programme is all set to devise a poverty alleviation model to help people come out of poverty.

Chairing a meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday, she said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is immensely interested in making BISP beneficiaries self-sufficient.

She said under directions of the Prime Minister, BISP is studying various models in order to select the finest.

SHAHBAZ-SAAD:

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif says fruits of the mega projects completed at cost of billions of rupees are now reaching the people.

He was talking to Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique in Lahore on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister said transparency, high standards and speed of completion of mega projects in the present tenure are being praised even by the foreign world.

He said those who are trying to halt the journey to progress will face failure in the next general elections.

ZUBAIR:

Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair says the government is working for equal development of the remote areas in the country.

He was talking to a delegation from Thatta led by Assembly members Shafqat Shah Shirazi and Ejaz Shah Shirazi in Karachi on Tuesday.

The Governor sought proposals from elected representative about their constituencies so that problems faced by the people could be resolved.

ZONE:

China National Electric Company has prepared feasibility report of Rashakai Industrial Zone to be constructed in Mardan under CPEC.

The report was presented to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak by the company's Chief Executive Li Nangzhi at a meeting in Peshawar on Tuesday.

The meeting was informed that the zone will consist of two hundred industrial units, including steel, medicine, Halal food, textile and auto parts industries.

More than one thousand acres of land has already been acquired for this purpose.

On completion, the zone will initially create more than thirty thousand jobs for the youth.

PLAN:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has chalked out a plan for protection and preservation of cultural heritage of the province.

TRAIN:

Pakistan Railways will run five special trains to facilitate passengers on the eve of Eid-ul Fitr.

The first Eid train will leave Karachi for Peshawar on Friday, while the second will ply from Quetta to Rawalpindi on Saturday. The third train will run between Karachi and Lahore, while two special trains will run between Rawalpindi and Multan.

DAY:

World Refugees Day was observed on Tuesday.

ISPR:

Pakistan has started fencing the entire Pak-Afghan border to check infiltration.

According to ISPR, the fencing will be carried out in phases.

In the first phase, high infiltration prone border areas in Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber agencies are being fenced.

Fencing of the remaining border areas, including Balochistan, will be executed in the second phase.

Besides fencing, Pakistan Army and FC Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are constructing new forts and border posts to improve surveillance and defensibility.

A secure Pak-Afghan border is in common interest of both countries and a well-coordinated border security mechanism is essential for enduring peace and stability.

KEEL

Keel laying ceremony of another 32 ton Bollard Pull Tug, being built for Pakistan Navy, was held at Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works in Karachi on Tuesday.

Speaking on the occasion, Defence Secretary Syed Muhammad Owais said construction of 32 ton Tug will help Pakistan become self-reliant in shipbuilding.

He appreciated the efforts of Pakistan Navy in playing a significant role in turning this vision into reality.

It may be recalled that this Tug is the third of the series being built at Karachi Shipyard this year.

AJK-CABINET:

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet's Development Committee in its meeting held in Muzaffarabad on Tuesday approved 16 projects costing over four billion rupees.

Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan presided over the meeting.

The schemes approved by the Committee related to communication, health, education, wildlife and fisheries, agriculture and sanitation sectors.

Speaking on the occasion, Raja Farooq Haider stressed the need for transparent utilization of the government resources.

He said all schemes should be completed in stipulated time ensuring the quality.

The AJK Prime Minister said no compromise would be made on transparency in public welfare projects.

AJK-DEBATE:

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad continued general debate on budget proposals for the fiscal year 2017-18 on the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday.

Taking part in the debate, the Education Minister Barrister Iftikhar Gilani says thirteen thousands teaches in schools and one thousand five hundred lectures would be recruited in colleges to overcome shortage of faculty members in education institutions across the state.

He informed the house an MoU would be signed with Turkish Government for training of teachers. 6 thousand teachers have already been trained in collaboration with British Council.

He said a new subject covering some basics of Quran and Sunnah will be introduced in schools to guide children in line with teachings of Islam.

Members from government benches including Dr. Mustafa Bashir, Wiqar Ahmad Noor, Sardar Farooq Ahmad Tahir, Ch Muhammad Ishaq and Naureen Arif while taking part in the discussion termed the budget balanced and deployment oriented.

They thanked Prime Minister Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for taking personal interest in development of Azad Kashmir and doubling its development outlay.

The house will now again meet at 10:00 am on Wednesday.

KASHMIR

In Occupied Kashmir, the unabated Indian state terrorism during the last twenty eight years has forced over thirty five thousand Kashmiris to live outside the territory as refugees.

A report released by the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service on the occasion of World Refugee Day, on Tuesday, revealed that over two million Kashmiri refugees are living in camps in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and European countries since beginning of struggle for Kashmiris' birth right in 1947.

Meanwhile, Indian troops barged into houses in Shopian, Kulgam, Bandipora and Pampore areas and tortured inmates. They also damaged property to avenge celebrations by Kashmiri youth over Pakistan's historic victory against India in the ICC Champions Trophy.

The joint resistance leadership comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik in a statement issued in Srinagar said India's National Investigating Agency is being used as a war weapon to harass Hurriyet leaders.

Kashmiri representative, Syed Faiz Naqshbandi, while addressing the 35th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, urged the Council to send a fact-finding mission to occupied Kashmir to bring forth the real situation on ground in the territory.

ISLAMOPHOBIA

Organization of Islamic Cooperation has expressed concern over rising Islamophobia in Europe.

The concern was expressed in a statement issued by OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah condemning the attack on Muslim worshippers in London.

It said targeting worshippers of any faith is an attack on the shared values of tolerance. It expressed solidarity and sympathy with the affected Muslim families.

CHINA-KOREA:

China and Republic of Korea have expressed willingness to improve bilateral relations.

This was stated by Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi while meeting Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam in Beijing on Tuesday.

During the meeting, Yang Jiechi said China hopes that Korea will show political will and honor its commitment to work together with Beijing to properly handle the relevant issues and improve relations as soon as possible.

Korean Foreign Minister said that his country expects to improve relations with China.

PALESTINE:

In Palestine, Israel has started construction of new settlement in the occupied West Bank in spite of opposition by the international community.

In his tweet message on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said work on the ground has begun as be had promised to establish a new settlement for the Amona settlers.

SOMALIA:

In Somalia, at least fifteen people were killed in a suicide car bomb blast in the south of capital Mogadishu.

According to local police, the suicide bomber posing as a milk delivery van sneaked into the Wadajir district headquarters.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

UN-CONGO:

The United Nations has called for an independent international probe into massive killings in central Congo.

The UN Human Rights Council Chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein in his appeal to the Council in Geneva termed the reports from UN rights experts deployed in central Kasai region as harrowing.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in its detailed report about the violence said that Congolese security forces and a militia group have killed more than three thousand people in the central Kasai region since October.

The Congo's government is opposing an international investigation, saying that it would violate its sovereignty.